Zoroastrianism - Tumblr Posts
Zoroastrian temple, Balkh Afghanistan.
It is located in Northern Balkh, and it is believed to be the birthplace of Zoroaster, the founder of one of the world’s earliest monotheistic religions.
Buddhist Time Prophecies
The following are excerpts taken from the article entitled, 'Buddhist Time Prophecies.' The said article contains extracts from existing Baha'i publications and is written by Joel Smith.
At that period, brethren, there will arise in the world an Exalted One named Metteyya, Arahat, Fully Awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, an Exalted One, a Buddha, even as I am now... ... He, by himself, will thoroughly know and see, as it were face to face, this universe, with Its worlds of the spirits, Its Brahmas and Its Maras, and Its world of recluses and Brahmins, of princes and peoples, even as I now, by myself, thoroughly know and see them. -Digha Nikaya 1
The truth [the Norm, the Dhamma], lovely in origin, lovely in Its progress, lovely in Its consummation, will he (Metteyya Buddha) proclaim, both in the spirit and in letter, the higher life will he make known, in all Its fullness and in all Its purity, even as I do know. He will be accompanied by a congregation of some thousands of Brethren, even as I an now accompanied by a congregation of some hundreds of Brethren. ---Digha Nikaya 2
This prophecy of Gautama Buddha clearly predicts that the teaching of Mettayya Buddha will be a worldwide teaching. Each of the world's major religions contain Messianic prophecies. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Zoroastrian religion and even the Native American religions all foretell the coming of a Promised One. Each of the Founders of these great religions either promised to personally return himself, to send another like himself or in some instances.... the Founder promised to do both.
Christians await the return of Christ and the coming of "another comforter." The Jewish scriptures foretell the coming of "another Prophet" like Moses and the return of Elijah from heaven. Many Moslems await the appearance of Mahdi and Meseeh. Buddha said that he was not the first Buddha ever to appear and that another "supremely enlightened" Buddha was still yet to come. Zoroastrian prophecies foretell the coming of a "World-renovator." Native American prophecies foretell the coming of a bearded white man from the east who will bring teachings which will restore the hoop of unity. Each religion, in its own way, has foretold the coming of a great 'religion restoring', 'world uniting', 'peace bringing' Messiah.
For centuries, people from all over the world have been hoping and praying that they will be the generation which will witness the appearance of their Promised One. Not many have considered the possibility that these prophecies from the various religions might actually all be foretelling the exact same event. Baha'u'llah, the founder of Baha'i Faith, does not just fulfill the Buddhist prophecies. He is also Promised One of Jews "the expected Messiah", for Christians and Muslims the awaited return of Christ, for the Zoroastrians (Parsees) the Saoshyant, for the Hindus the Kalki Avatar, as well as being for Buddhists the Metteyya Buddha.
TIME PROPHECIES
But there is another prophecy that is much more specific about the time of the coming of the Metteyya Buddha. Sariputta asked the Buddha:
'The Hero that shall follow you? As Buddha of what sort is he? The account in full I fain would learn. Declare to me thou seeing one' Gautama Buddha replied: ' I will tell you, Sariputta Pray lend your ears, for I will speak. In this auspicious aeon ' Three leaders have already lived Kakusandha, Konagamana And also the leader Kassapa. 'The Buddha Supreme, now am I But after me Mettayya comes, Before this auspicious aeon Runs to the end of years. "This Buddha, then, Mettayya by name Supreme, and of all men the chief...'
This passage clearly shows that the Metteyya Buddha will appear 'before this auspicious aeon runs to the end of years'. Since Gautama Buddha appeared in India and was speaking to disciples who had also been Hindus and were familiar with the Hindu system of dating cycles. It would seem likely that when Gautama Buddha said 'before this auspicious aeon runs to the end of years', he was speaking of the Hindu Kali Yuga in the middle of which he had appeared. This Kali Yuga ended at noon on 1 August 1943, equivalent to the year 2486 of the Buddhist Era. Therefore according to this prophecy of the Buddha, the Metteyya Buddha should already have appeared sometime before 1943.
Gautama Buddha described the degraded state of the world at the time of the coming of Metteyya, these conditions have been fulfilled today. The world will fall into promiscuity, like goats and sheep, fowls and swine, dogs and jackals. Among such humans, brethren, keen mutual enmity will become the rule, keen ill-will, keen animosity, passionate thoughts even of killing, in a mother towards her child. In a child towards mother, in a father towards his child and a child towards his father, in brother to brother, in brother to sister, in sister to brother…
Today, all the peoples of the world are indulging in self-interest and exert the utmost effort and endeavor to promote their own material interests. They are worshiping themselves and not the divine reality. They seek diligently their own benefit and not the common weal. This is because they are captives of the world of nature and unaware of the divine teachings, of the bounty, of the kingdom and of the Sun of Truth. These prophecies appear to describe accurately the present condition of the world with materialism, consumerism, promiscuity, drug problems and increasing violence and conflict. These problems are ravaging every society and undermining the pillars of all social structures. He alone is meant by the prophecy attributed to Gautama Buddha Himself, that "a Buddha named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship" should, in the fullness of time, arise and reveal "His boundless glory"... Baha'u'llah wrote:
"Verily I say, this is the day in which mankind can behold the Face and hear the Voice of the Promised One. The call of God hath been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men. It behooveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of His Glory." —Baha'u'llah, Baha'i World Faith p. 9-11
MANY PEOPLE OFTEN ASK, WHY IS JESUS THE ONLY WAY?
The answer is excerpted from Eli Kittim’s book, “The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days,” pp. 246-247:
“Of all the famous teachers throughout history——Moses, Confucius, Buddha, and Muhammad——no one has ever made any claims of being divine. All these men admit to being either founders of a particular way of ‘being in the world’ or messengers of God. Only Christ makes mention of his preexisting divinity, which echoes the theophany of God’s name in Exodus 3.14: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am’ (John 8.58). Moreover, Jesus says, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me’ (John 14.6). In the Revelation to John, Christ emphatically says, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, . . . who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’! (Rev. 1.8, cf. 1.1). In the final analysis, either Christ is who he claims to be, or he is the greatest hypocrite the world has ever known. You decide.”
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That is the question we all have to grapple with in this life, and, in all probability, the one which we will ultimately be judged by . . .
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